3 posts categorized "Ten Things You Didn't Know"

September 04, 2008

Because the brain is made up of 60 percent fat, it' exceptionally susceptible to toxic damage. Pesticides, herbicides, hormones, pollutants and medications—any substance that can dissolve in oil—can easily cross from the blood into the brain and cause harm.

There's no scientific evidence that listening to Mozart--or watching videos--makes babies smarter. Intelligence improves if children create music by learning an instrument, rather than listening passively.

To hear better on your cell phone, cover the mouthpiece. This enhances the brain’s ability to separate different signals from each other.

January 23, 2008

A new British study explains how chronic work stress increases your risk of heart disease: It causes biological changes that undermine the body's natural mechanism for coping under pressure.

"Stress appeared to upset the part of the nervous system which controls the heart, telling it how to work and controlling the variability of the heart rate," the BBC News reported. "Those who reported stress were also recorded as having poor 'vagal tone' - the impulses which regulate heartbeat."

January 18, 2008

If you've ever seen (or had) a case of severely frostbitten fingers or toes, you don't need to be told to wear suitable clothing in cold temperatures.

But here are 10 things you might not have known about frostbite, or damage to the skin due to extreme cold, compliments of Russ Horowitz, a pediatric emergency room physician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

1. IT'S NOT THE COLD. "Despite what you might think, frostbite is not about your body getting assaulted by cold," Horowitz said. "Instead, it is about the loss of heat. Frostbite happens when your body can't protect itself from this heat loss."

2. BREATHE EASY. I asked whether breathing cold air could hurt the lungs. "You can freeze lots of things but your lungs are not one of them," he said. (Phew!) "Your body is uniquely prepared for this. Your nose and throat warms and moisturizes the air as you breath it in. Also, the blood circulating through your lungs keeps them warm enough not to freeze. That doesn’t mean that breathing cold air feels good." But it won't make the lungs turn black and fall off, which is reassuring.